In February 2026, the Department for Education launch a consultation as part of their fostering action plan, ‘Renewing fostering: homes for 10,000 more children’. The consultation focused on changes to the assessment process and to the handling of allegations of abuse and standards of care concerns in foster care.
This contained 2 proposals:
- Proposal 1: Amending the role of fostering panels and strengthening quality assurance standards within the assessment process
- Proposal 2: Improving the handling of allegations and standards of care concerns
Our response to this consultation is based on the views of our members which we gathered through two focus groups on panels and allegations attended by around 100 fostering services and foster carers, a member survey with 109 responses, consultation sessions with the National Foster Carers Association Forum, Agency Decision Makers and our Independent Fostering Agency steering group along with a survey with our National Panel Chair forum.
In our response we highlighted serious concerns with the proposal to remove the requirement for panels at initial assessment and first year review and highlighted that other areas of the assessment could be improved instead.
We welcomed the recommendations to update the allegations standards and guidance to strengthen support for foster carers and children and promote greater fairness and transparency, however we believe the proposals do not go far enough and suggest areas where they can be strengthened.